Testimonials

Visitor Feedback & Reviews

I am writing on behalf of the York Society of Chartered Accountants to extend our thanks to Malcolm for a fantastic tour yesterday evening. Kind regards.

Samantha Hipkin

7th September 2018

I am writing with a thank you for Peter, our guide today. He was informative, funny and clearly passionate about the city and its history. We learned a lot and really enjoyed ourselves on the tour. Thanks so much to Peter and to your organisation for providing this wonderful service – we really appreciate it. Best wishes

Radha from Pennsylvania

21st August 2018

Just a quick thank you for making our day in York yesterday when your excellent tour guide John F shared his enthusiasm for and knowledge of the city with us. What a service, greatly appreciated, thank you!

Alan Eaton

20th August 2018

Yesterday we attended the guided tour of York with Charlotte (I think). We are very grateful for the service provided.
In the same way, we would like to congratulate you on the initiative of the association of volunteers. Thank you very much,

Ana Cudos Rosales

9th August 2018

Thank you! I went on the 13.15 tour today and I just have to say it was absolutely fantastic! There were 2 tour guides (one took a group of Spanish tourists and the other took the rest, including me) – I can’t remember her name but just thank you so much! Amazing and I will definitely be doing one of them again 😀

Wonderful guide, very friendly with an amazing amount of knowledge!

Natalie Cox

8th August 2018

An interesting and informative tour; well managed with a lot of people.

Our guide, Geoff, would not take anything at all. We went back to Holy Trinity Church to make a further donation on his behalf. Thank you to Geoff and the Guides of York.

David Owen

1st August 2018

My wife, three children, and I joined Jeff, our tour leader, in the 1:15 PM tour on Sunday, 1st July. We had a small group overall, maybe a dozen people total. It was a warm day, but Jeff’s energy and no-nonsense style kept the group, including our 12- and 14-year old boys, captivated and moving from site to site.

Jeff’s commentary painted an excellent history of events at York, from the earliest Roman involvement clear through visits by the royal family today. In many places he added his own interpretation of history to bridge gaps and connect things, but he was always clear when doing so. We left with a whole new appreciation of the significant role York has played in England’s history, and consequently the deep history it offers.

In a brief chat after the tour, Jeff explained that he’d gathered much of the info he presented from his own reading, which he said make more sense the more you read. We also discussed a few general questions that we had from our earlier travels in England, which I appreciated.

Thank you to Jeff and the Association of Voluntary Guides to the City of York for this engaging and very interesting tour. We highly recommend the tour to others.

Victor Impink and family

11th July 2018

Yesterday I took this FREE tour together with my wife and two American friends, we found it exceedingly good and very informative. The guide, Richard, was excellent, giving the information clearly while holding the interest of the group. The most amazing part of this enjoyable experience was the refusal of any gratuities offered, which in this day and age is truly remarkable, free really did mean free!

Well done AVG and the City of York for providing such an first class service to tourism in your City.

L Walker

4th July 2018

Hi, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the tour I took with Margaret. She was so knowledgeable about everything and showed me so much around York. Thank you for offering this service to your visitors. It is much appreciated!

Amy Teichman

4th July 2018

I know you don’t take tips but wanted to say how great the walk and commentary was today. Forgotten name of guide but he was brilliant – full of info, knowledge and fun. I know a lot of folk would have been happy to donate to some charity or other even if your organisation wants it to remain cost free, and a ‘labour of love’. Very happy to send a donation if you can give details. Whatever, it was the highlight of my trip to York. I have 2 brothers who have lived in York for 40 years and they both said if I had time to go on one of these tours. Glad I did. Down from Aberdeen for a visit and have visited York on many occasions but never knew I was so ignorant of its history. Many thanks indeed

Rob Peaker

20th June 2018

From two blind friends who loved our tour of York…

We just wanted to say a big thank you to Margaret and Richard for guiding us in York a couple of weeks back. We really enjoyed the walk along the walls and through the lovely gardens and courtyards, along with all the interesting information about the city. We both took different stories away with us and were able to tell each other later. Many thanks again

Katy & Phil

13th May 2018

I just wanted to pass on our thanks from the whole group for our walking tour with Neil yesterday. He was extremely knowledgeable and really friendly, making for a very enjoyable experience. He was patient with us for being a little late (trying to get 16 girls out of the house on time is near impossible!) and was clearly very passionate about York and all it has to offer.

I’m sure I’ll be back to York at some point for another of your tours and I will recommend you to my family and friends. Thank you again, please keep up the amazing work.

Caroline Wyer

30th April 2018

“On behalf of the Jaguar Drivers’ Club, East Midlands please accept our sincere thanks for the guided tour around the City of York on Saturday 14th April 2018. Allan, our guide, was very knowledgeable, extremely interesting and obviously very passionate about York. Everyone on the tour appreciated his style. Thank you again.”

Robert & Jenny Ayres

14th April 2018

An excellent tour…
We had a fantastic tour with Barry at 10:15 on April 5. Barry mentioned that he had been a history teacher and he must have been an excellent one. He combined interesting stories, personal connections, and a wonderfully dry sense of humour to make the argument that York has been the location for a variety of turning points in history. We appreciated his enthusiasm – he is an excellent tour leader and we were so glad we were able to do this. Thank you, AVG, for this remarkable (and free) service. And thank you, too, Barry!

Bill Boerman-Cornell

6th April 2018

Thank you very much for the walking tour last Friday with Martin our guide – he was amazing!! We (6 Dutch people with one wheelchair) enjoyed York.
The weather was very cold, and that was a little bit sad, but The Blue Bell was a very good (warm) tip!!! Thank You very much Martin!!!

Kind regards, the Dutch friends from Arnhem.

22nd March 2018

I’d just like to tell you that the tour that my partner and I went on today (24 February) was one of the best things I have done in a lot of visits to York. Our guide was called Ken and he was a pleasure to listen to; his knowledge of York was first class.

Keith Powell

24th February 2018

We were on a tour at 1.15 on Thursday 22 February with Richard. He was very knowledgeable and provided a wonderful tour. Many thanks to Richard and your group.

Stuart Richards

23rd February 2018

Our walk around York yesterday was fantastic! Neal combined much knowledge with humor and energy. Visiting from the States again, we wanted to do something in the North. We weren’t disappointed! Thank you!

Greg Carlson

11th January 2018

I want to express my sincere appreciation for the guided walk my students and I received yesterday, led by guide John May. Our group of 22 university students is from Norway, and it was their first time in York. Although it was cold and damp outside, and my students didn’t all show up at the meeting point as planned, John led the tour with considerable skill and humour. He was well-informed about local history, and his enthusiasm carried the students through the afternoon. Generous with his time, he changed the usual order of the tour to meet my “lost” students midway, which was really appreciated.

I know I speak for my whole group in thanking the association and John especially for a lovely afternoon yesterday.

Jessica, Nord University

28th November 2017

Just to say how much we enjoyed our tour with Peter this afternoon. He was very informative and our two hour tour passed all too quickly. Will highly recommend your free tour to friends. Thank you!

Lynne & Gary Roberts

28th September 2017

We joined the walking tour with Keith as our guide yesterday. His knowledge of the history of York and its many historic buildings, people and places whether in Roman Medieval or Victorian times was so impressive. By walking with him he was able to point out and we were able to appreciate places buildings and signs that would otherwise have been meaningless. He made the tour a pleasure to go on.

We were so enthused by his way of bringing the past to life that in the afternoon we joined him for a tour of York’s historic pubs.

Peter & Judith McGowan

24th September 2017

I would like to say a big thanks to our guide last Monday (14th August). He was wonderful, and amazing. The job of this organisation is huge, and I recommend the walking tour with these volunteers.

Juana de la Paz

19th August 2017

Hi, I’d just like to say thank you to all who provide this wonderful voluntary service. I did your 2 hour free walking tour with Jim yesterday and it was terrific! He was so knowledgeable and kind, sharing his time freely to show our group the wonderful city of York. He apologised for going slightly over the 2 hours but I could have listened to his stories all day. Well done Jim and all the York walking tour volunteeers!

Linda (Brisbane, Australia)

3rd August

I would like to thank you for the most wonderful and insightful tour I had. Five stars, very highly recommended!

Sameera Sachdeva

30th July 2017

We applaud John for his splendid tour today. We learned so much about the fascinating history of York as well as efforts to preserve said history. He moved us along, but not too fast for seniors, and held our interest so well we stuck with it for 3 1/4 hours! Thank you, John & to the organization. Bravo!